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One particular marketing pitch you’ll run into on occasion usually starts with claiming a “shocking truth” on a particular subject. Whether it’s dieting or tax management, it’s like good marketing’s become synonymous with exposing the ‘ugly truth’ about something. Are B2B appointment setters the same?

With all this talk of big data, bigger CRM, and cross-channel automation, you’d think that everyone in the world of B2B marketing and sales is going to look like they work on a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier.

But in truth? In spite of all the tracking, sophisticated security, and big-time data crunching, sometimes it’s still better to go manual when you’re looking for sales leads.

Given that it’s hot. The days are longer. It shouldn’t be surprising when even prospects in the office are more prone to browsing things like marketing content at a slower pace.

Why then is your B2B marketing campaign not taking this chance to change? If stock market investors have their own business-related summer plans, then so should your marketers. Given all the free time it’s supposed to entail, it’s not that hard figuring out a content strategy that would fit the lazier state of mind it creates.

Plan this early – If summer is such a hard time for your B2B marketing department then treat like a storm: prepare before it gets there. Find ways to survive the slow sales. Plan for the fall campaign. Outsource it and go on vacation. No matter what, the point is you need to start making plans now.

Use brighter colors – What do you do when you start packing for the beach? What catches your eye more often? Is it the swimsuit sale? Getaway packages? In case you didn’t notice, plenty of them make use of bright colors that go with the sunny season. Your local mall shouldn’t be the only business that tries to leave an eye-catching impression.

Make it like ice-cream – Whether its ice cream or lemonade, the heat’s more bearable with something cool in your mouth. Same principle applies when the summer lazy haze starts giving prospects a headache. Maybe instead of the usual white paper, do something a little more refreshing like a funny story or a funny infographic.

Set matching appointments – Instead of the usual conference room, why not use sales appointments as an excuse to get both yourself and your prospects out of the office? Or if you’re hosting an event, why not set it someplace cozy like near a beach instead of the usual convention hall?

Unlike winter or Easter, summer’s arguably the season when even professionals and managers have a lot more free time. Make that the key to blending the themes of your marketing campaign with the season. Try making things a little more relaxed but when they’re in their relaxed state of mind, make it easier for yourself to turn them into your next client.

Father’s Day doesn’t just celebrate biological ones. They include all father figures whether they’re uncles, grandfathers, teachers, and of course, bosses.

They’re the authority who wears the pants in the family, sets down the drafts of the rules, and traditionally commands the most respect. It can be assumed that plenty of males in senior management position are already fathers so don’t be surprised if they literally get their skills from the home front.

And with Father’s Day, expect gifts to be going around. But while everyone’s getting them golf clubs, evenings out, and gift certificates, how can B2B marketers reward the fatherly men in their prospect lists?

Summer usually means people heading out to the next tropical getaway. But increasingly, people are still finding themselves at work even on vacation. Throw in addictive internet technology, endless streams of notifications, emails, and calls. Is this what you’d call unplugged? Unplugging from your lead generation campaign doesn’t automatically mean the end of it if you’re prepared to put in safety measures and resist all forms of temptation to keep checking on in the office.

Sure you have the occasional emergency. But how can you call it occasional when you’re expecting it more than half the time?

Give advance notice, including to outsourced companies – If you’re working in any sales position, let your marketers know in advance that you won’t be making any appointments for an extended period of time. If you’ve outsourced your lead generation and marketing processes, it might even be better to let them know weeks before you take off. On a side note, get them to set some appointments for you in advance as well so that you’ll have some work when you get back.

Get your current workload done – By the time you get back, you obviously wouldn’t want any unfinished work piling up on any new tasks or engagements. Therefore, finish as much as you can. You can stop your lead generators from setting appointments after a certain date but why cancel the ones they’ve already qualified?

Have only one emergency contact – You’ll need someone to stand guard over your emergency to number. Why? Well obviously to make sure it’s only used for emergencies. If you expect such emergencies to happen more often than not, then something is seriously wrong with your contingency plan.

Leave a decent message behind– Create a sort of response template that your marketers and appointment setters can use to explain your absence. Your prospects already do the same with their gatekeepers so why should you be any different? On the other hand, make it more polite and have it express your eagerness to do business once you get back.

Disable all other channels – If you really want to a bit extreme, eliminate all other means of contacting you from work. Make it so that the emergency contact is your only means of communication.

You’d want to make the most of your vacation so it’s only natural that you’d go and try to remove all sorts of work-related temptations. But perhaps the real thing you need to resist is the tendency to worry about the worst while you’re away. Create your contingency plans without it so that you won’t have it taking the place of your vacation ones.

Everybody loves a good joke or two. Research suggests that people love it more when you have a good sense of humor. Who doesn’t? It’s a good way to present yourself as creative, optimistic, and most of all, human.

Hence, it’s easy to see why readers would go for email copy that comes off as clownish but still drives a point compared to flat and mechanical tones that are detached from their business experience.

However, a joke only works best with the people who can understand the sense placed into it. How do you that given the text restrictions of email? These tips will show you:

The Subject Line is Your Opening Act – No one’s denying it. The worse copies are unimpressive. They have that “feel-free-to-ignore” look (even when the subject seems pretty important). Instead, use creativity to throw in a few ridiculous subject lines that will provoke prospects to read on.

From Header to Delivery – Don’t just stop at that click. Keep drawing them in! Use eye-catching images, graphics, or even videos! Its important keep readers thinking, “Huh?! What the heck is this? Who sent it?” Your introductions should make sure that the people keep reading. It ties together your subject line with the rest of the copy. A good joke matches its reference to be funny so make sure to make it as relevant as possible.

Call-to-Action as the Punchline – Your ending act will be what makes it sound human. Add some intended bloopers or comedic punchlines in that simple, clear call to action that leads to a click. Limit your clickable items in the email as much as possible with demos, forms, or any other simple action that they can just take.

It’s already spring so it make sense to freshen up your marketing strategies and try something new. For email marketing, bringing in an early April Fool’s can be a good start. Remember, the bottom line to using humor properly, being creative, and showing your human side, is to be different from the generic copy. Shock them with an unconventional subject line and then keep them laughing till they click!

Like Christmas and Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day is a special occasion for meeting someone special. Perhaps the only real difference is the number of people. Think Romeo and Juliet, the Cowherd and the Weaver, or even Calypso and Davey Jones.

Even if not an official holiday, it’s certainly treated as the one day where couples forget what keeps them apart. Such a special occasion certainly merits plenty of planning.

But now that the day is over, don’t you think those planning skills can still have use beyond the holiday? B2B marketers and sales reps could certainly use them to avoid the consequences of missing vital appointments.

You’ve probably seen the cliché a couple times. A certain group of celebs or major players receive a mysterious invitation to participate in an event. Normally, this would be a set up for some horror or mystery book but in real life, this little trope can useful in event marketing.

Ever since social media marketing became a staple, much debate has went on about the use of one particular network: Facebook.

Typically, social media marketing on Facebook has been associated with consumer products. But of course, such can be a general statement and already several marketing authorities are citing exceptions.

There aren’t many who think about the differences between B2B and B2C marketing. But in order to have any effective marketing strategy, understanding the comparisons can save up a lot of time and money from common misconceptions.